Whithering Rose Petals
by writersblock159
Summary: Ruby's not answering her phone, and Weiss can't get inside their house because she locked her keys in there. Sadly this is not an unusual occurrence. Blake and Yang are on their way to help Weiss get in, unaware of what they'll find inside... In Memorial of Gunnery Sergeant P. USMC.


**TRIGGER WARNING: GRAPHIC MENTIONS OF SUICIDE!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.**

* * *

_May the road rise to meet you,_

_may the wind be always at your back..._

_and until we meet again..._

_may God hold you in the hollow of his hand._

* * *

_In Memory of Gunnery Sergeant P. _

_Farewell, my brother._

* * *

"Ruby locked me out again!" Weiss' voice filtered through the scroll's speaker as Blake and Yang made their way through the evening traffic.

Blake sighed. "Why do I feel like this is another time that you, in fact, left your key _inside_ the house?"

"Maybe because this is the third time she's done so?" Her girlfriend quipped, carefully maneuvering through traffic.

"You can't prove anything!" The white haired huntress snapped back. "Now _please_ tell me you're on your way. It's getting dark out, and I'm cold, and hungry, and it looks like it might rain, _and-_"

"-And we're only a block away, Ice Queen, so you can chill, jeez!" Yang turned the corner and sighed. "Of course there aren't any parking spots. Well, I guess you'll just have to keep pounding on the door. Ruby will hear you eventually."

"Excuse me!?" Weiss' squawk of protest made the blonde chuckle. "You are _not_ about to leave me outside-"

"-Relax, Weiss." Blake interrupted. "I'll get out and let you in. No biggie."

"Well," the white haired girl huffed into the phone. "At least _one_ of you can help a girl out when she needs it."

Yang pointed silently to an open parking spot and winked at Blake, who rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's antics. "Oh, would you look at that, Blake. A parking spot just opened up; just in time, too!"

"I hate you both," was heard from the other side of the scroll. Blake looked out the window and saw their friend pacing up and down the sidewalk, her face flushed and breathing labored. "I really, _really,_ hate you so much right now."

"Awww, is that any way to talk to your sister-in-laws?" Yang said laughingly, ducking under a swipe from the faunus in the passenger seat.

"For the last time, I am _not _dating Ruby!" This proved to be too much for the huntresses in the car, who both laughed at the indignation in the white haired girl's voice.

Blake got out of the car, just in time to hear Yang call across the street to their friend. "You complain too much, methinks."

Weiss' glare found them both as soon as the two girls were out of the car. "Whatever. Now _please_ let me in. Dresses are _wonderful_ things, but insulate, they do not."

Blake sighed, and the two made their way to the apartment building that Weiss and Ruby lived in. It was hardly grand, maybe three stories in all, but it was affordable for two huntresses making a living saving the world. At least that was what Ruby always said. Weiss, for her part, complained constantly that it was 'the worst place in the world to live,' but every time Ruby would ask her if she wanted to move out on her own, the white haired girl would backtrack and claim that she could 'bear it just a little longer, for her partner's sake.'

Yang thought it was hilarious, Blake thought it was obnoxious, Nora thought it was cute, and Ren simply said 'Oblivious, thy name is Weiss,' when asked his opinion about it.

Weiss _had_ been independently wealthy at one time, and she was still used to that standard of life. Ruby had not, was not, and, contrary to what the fairy tales said, did not become rich from saving the world. It was very much a non-profit venture. The salary of a huntress was one of the worst in the world, so while Yang made extra lien from sanctioned fights and Blake made some from selling her biography, Ruby and Weiss worked full time. At the end of the day, this was the best the red and white huntresses could afford.

Hence why the manager wasn't answering her scroll, Blake was sure.

Making their way up to the third floor, Blake noticed there was a surprising amount of activity occurring. Dismissing it as a reaction to watching Weiss storm through the halls a few times, she made her way to the door with the initials RR and WS stenciled on in flowing script. Carefully putting her key in the doorknob, she turned it…

And found it was jammed.

Cursing, she checked the lock. It was deadbolted, and she didn't have the key to the deadbolt. Without hesitating she turned around and reached into her girlfriend's hair. Ignoring Yang's protests, she found three hairpins, which upon removal showed they hadn't been doing the job they were supposed to anyway. The blonde gave her a betrayed look as the faunus knelt down and began to pick the lock. "How did you deadbolt your keys inside the house anyway?"

Weiss raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't. I never deadbolt it when I leave, and neither does Ruby."

Blake narrowed her own eyes as she continued to rummage around the mechanism. "Then why is it locked?"

Yang shrugged. "Maybe when Ruby left she just did it to try to be extra secure."

"I doubt it." Weiss dismissed. "She's not exactly the kind of person who thinks of that."

Blake agreed with her. "Yeah, Ruby can be kind of a dolt-" She cut herself off as the lock caught and the bolt turned. "Got it!" The door swung open, and Weiss nearly ran inside before Blake held her arm out to stop her friend.

"Don't." The faunus used her other hand to draw her blade. "I smell blood."

Yang activated her gauntlets, and Weiss put a hand on her rapier. "How much?"

"Too much." Her ears twitched. "No sound of movement, but I can't be sure." She glanced at the two. "We get in, find whomever's bleeding, and get them out. Then we try to find a grimm."

Weiss blanched. "How would a grimm have gotten in?"

"We can speculate after." Yang interrupted, unusually serious. "Hey, you!" She pointed to one of the people standing nearby. "Call the police and get an ambulance here. We have what looks like an injured person here."

The man nodded, and started dialing on his scroll, and the three huntresses stepped inside.

Yang immediately began looking through the kitchen and living room while Blake and Weiss moved down the hall. Weiss paused at the linen closet, while Blake carefully made her way down the hall, following the smell of blood. Turning into the bathroom, she whirled around. "Weiss. Get Yang out." When the girl hesitated, Blake lost her patience. "Get her out _NOW!_" Weiss practically flew down the hall as Blake stumbled to the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach again and again, finally leaning against it when nothing else would come up.

When medical personnel finally arrived on the scene they found her still leaning against the bowl, crying her eyes out, as the girl in the bathtub lay bled out; finger still on the trigger of a scythe-rifle, barrel still in her mouth.

* * *

_Suicide._

So much hate for such a small word. Blake had held it together as best she could. She had been treated for shock as soon as the paramedics had arrived, and had ignored their warnings and pleas to sit back down as soon as she realized that her friends still needed her. Making her way down to the sidewalk, she found Weiss being cared for; her state was similar to the one the faunus had just been in, while Yang was sitting on the sidewalk, her arms around her legs, her shoulders shaking.

Carefully, she made her way to her girlfriend and slipped an arm around her. Yang leaned into the embrace. "My-my _sister..._" The blonde couldn't get any more out as she started crying harder. Blake just held her, and rubbed her back. Finally, when the brawler had calmed a bit, she asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not now." the blonde sighed. "I just want to be sad, but we'll talk tonight."

Blake understood. Yang was complex, and despite her outgoing personality, tended to retreat to a shell when she was hurt. When she was ready, she would be there. For now, all she could do was let her girlfriend think. Blake planted a kiss on the blonde's temple, earning her a sad smile, before standing up and heading to Weiss, who was trying to convince the EMT to let her go back inside.

"It's _my_ house!"

"You're far too upset-"

Yes, because you won't let me go-"

"Madam, you must understand-"

"Weiss." Blake interrupted them both, silencing them and getting a glare from the white haired girl. "She's dead."

"You don't know that!" The white haired girl shrieked. "She _can't_ be dead! She's Ruby, if she can survive Salem she can survive anything!"

'Delirium,' the EMT mouthed to Blake. "You're in shock, Miss Schnee, you just need to relax-"

Blake sighed. "Weiss, Ruby is... "She knelt down and looked into her friend's broken eyes. "She's _dead,_ Weiss. I saw it, there was...stuff everywhere." She shivered at the memory. "Blood...so much blood, and her eyes… they were so glassy, so terrifyingly relaxed." She swallowed down the urge to vomit again. "I saw it." She felt someone drape a blanket over her. "That's why I told you to get out. I didn't want you or Yang to see that."

Weiss started to cry. "She can't be dead, she's our leader." Her voice was small. "She's _Ruby._"

Blake nodded. "I know."

With that, they both broke down, each clinging to the other and bawling into her shoulder…

* * *

Across town, Ren was still cooking, listening to Nora talk as he did so.

"...and then I was like 'Oh really, you think I'll let you do that?' and the Grimm was like, 'Who's gonna stop me?' and I was like 'wham, bam, ka-pow-" there was a tinkling noise from a lamp, and he winced, "-and then it grabbed me and threw me over the edge of the table, and I was like 'hah, you thought' as I broke it, but it charged and-" this time there was a loud humming sound from the counter, and Ren glanced down to see it was Velvet's scroll calling him.

"Hold on, Nora," he said, turning around, taking in the destroyed living room, and mentally making a note of 'repair, replace, and remove' for the furniture that was spread haphazardly around the room. Grabbing the scroll, he answered it. "Lie Ren."

"Ren?" Velvet's voice was scratchy, as though she'd been crying. "Did you get Yang's message?"

"I did not." Ren said, turning back to the kitchen and ignoring the sounds coming from behind him. "Are you all right, Velvet?"

"No, no I'm not." The faunus broke into sobs.

"Velvet." Ren tried hard to think of what to do. When Nora got sad and upset, she would often hit things, but he doubted he could do anything like that over the phone. He also doubted that the rabbit faunus would have the same coping mechanisms. "I want to help, but I do not know how."

"It's Ruby," the faunus wailed, and Ren froze. Turning off the stove, he made his way to the couch and sat down next to Nora, turning the phone on speaker and motioning for her to join him. "What about her?"

He wasn't sure what he'd expected, but the sobbing got worse and he made out only two words: "Dead" and "Suicide." Neither were good. He dropped the scroll.

Nora grabbed it. "Velvet, where are you right now?"

"I'm with Coco-"

"Okay, you should join us here. We live in Ozpin Tower." Ren wanted to point out that their apartment was hardly in a fit state for visitors, but he found his voice wasn't working.

"But I-"

"No buts!" Nora snapped, then sighed. "Stop by for an hour or two, then go home." She looked at her husband and sighed. "Everyone needs to be together right now. Call it a celebration of life for Ruby or something, I don't care, but this is _bad_."

There was a bit of a one sided conversation, before Velvet finally agreed. "Fine, I'll let Jaune know as well. Reach out to SNNN. Maybe contact Penny-"

"I'll help." Nora said firmly. "I'll text you as I call people, and you do the same. That way we won't overlap." After securing the faunus' agreement she hung up, and turned to Ren, who still couldn't move. "Talk to me."

He finally found his voice. "I saw her two days ago." He looked at her, eyes wide. "_Two days ago,_ Nora. She was fine. No sign of anything off, her laugh didn't seem forced, her smiles were genuine, she wasn't trying to give anything away…" He stared quietly. "What did I miss?"

Nora cuddled into him, closing her eyes as she did so. "It doesn't matter."

"What?"

"Right now, what matters is that she was a selfish jerk who left us to clean up her mess." Nora cracked an eye at him. "I hope she has a good time in the afterlife, because when I find her I'ma give her hell."

Ren looked at her disbelievingly. Nora was a very simple person. She accepted people as they were and took no shit from nobody. Unless they betrayed her, then she would hold a grudge till the day you died. "Nora, it's not that bad-"

"She left us. She didn't reach out, she could have, and instead she skipped." She narrowed her eyes. "Ruby was supposed to hang out with Jaune today. How do you think he's going to feel when he finds out what happened?"

Ren looked down. "Oh no."

"After the fall of Beacon, you weren't here for the funerals, Ren." His wife glared at him. "_I was._ What I saw was that when people came together they supported one another." She stared around the room. "I am going to clean up. Then I'll make you some tea."

That stirred the huntsman. "How about _I_ make the tea, Nora. I prefer if we didn't have to rebuild the tower because you burned it down."

His wife nodded and headed to the pile of rubble she'd made of the furniture. After she turned her back, she smiled. He wasn't back to normal, but it would help him to make the tea, to have that normalcy in his life.

Nora wasn't stupid. She was about as far from normal as one could get, but this was their corner of strange, and no selfish little girl was going to ruin it. She would mourn her friend, but she wouldn't _ever_ forgive her.

* * *

**This is a departure from my usual fare, and obviously characters are ooc. This is dedicated to a good man, who left this world far too soon; and my way of coping with that departure. He left behind a family, and his marines, and we all miss him. I wish you had talked to us, we all would have done anything to help.**

**Godspeed brother,**

**Semper Fi.**


End file.
